CoQ10 is otherwise known as a coenzyme Q10, vitamin Q or ubiquinone, and its melting point is about 48° C. and it dissolves little in water. CoQ10 is a substance indispensable as a coenzyme when mitochondria in cells produce a high-energy phosphate compound ATP via the electron transport system thereof. CoQ10 also exists in other membrane systems than mitochondria, such as cell membrane, Golgi body, lysosome, etc., and is a vitamin-like substance that plays an important role as an antioxidant substance of scavenging peroxides that form in living bodies. CoQ10 is widely used in the field of medicines, health foods and cosmetics, as a medical remedy for congestive heart failure and as an antiaging substance based on the antioxidant effect of CoQ10.
CoQ10 is synthesized also in living bodies, and in foods, it may be contained in an amount of a few μg or so per gram of dry product of meats and eggs. However, the amount of CoQ10 to be synthesized in living bodies decreases with aging and tends to be low, and there are only an extremely few types of natural food materials having a high CoQ10 content. Accordingly, in daily meals, it is difficult to secure CoQ10 in an amount capable of compensating for the shortage thereof. CoQ10 is a fat-soluble substance and is poor in absorbability; however, in view of the safety on the administration route and the availability thereof, it is generally ingested orally.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a simple, effective and economical technique of improving the absorbability of CoQ10 in oral administration.
For improving the absorbability of CoQ10, for example, there have been proposed a method of heating and dissolving CoQ10 in oil (for example, see Patent Reference 1), a method of using a technique of solubilization in water (for example, see Patent Reference 2), a method of using a technique of clathration with cyclodextrin (for example, see Patent Reference 3), etc.
However, the CoQ10-containing material obtained by heating and dissolving CoQ10 in oil, as described in Patent Reference 1, is problematic in that the systemic absorption in oral administration is not sufficient. The technique of solubilizing CoQ10 in water, as described in Patent Reference 2, necessarily requires a process of mixing and stirring casein Na, dextrin and CoQ10, and then freeze-drying the mixture. Another problem is that a sufficient effect could not be attained when casein Na and dextrin are not added in a large amount of at least 25 times that of CoQ10. On the other hand, the technique of clathrating CoQ10 with cyclodextrin, as described in Patent Reference 3, necessarily requires a complicated step for clathration, and is therefore problematic in that the production cost increases.